Reality Bleed
by Marchling
Summary: While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. Post-movie team story - COMPLETE!
1. To Feel Greatly

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Reality Bleed**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_**Summary:**__ While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ These characters are not mine. They belong, or should completely belong, to Christopher Nolan. I can also imagine that the start of my story, namely someone testing a drug and problems ensuing, is not a particularly original concept. I do, however, think where I'm taking it will make up for this. _

_**Rating:**__ PG-13, for violence and possibly some swearing. _

_**Chapter Count:**__ There will be three chapters to this story. _

_**PLEASE NOTE:**__ I am, as near as I can tell, tweaking things a little. If projections don't mind if the dreamer (as opposed to the person in the dream with the dreamer) is changing the dream, then I apologize. Artistic license and all that. If you're someone who cannot bear to read a story unless it's perfectly in line with the rules of canon, then be warned that this might not be for you. Hopefully, however, everyone can suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this!_

_**Reviews are Love!

* * *

**_

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

**Chapter One:** To Feel Greatly

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

_-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

_

Ever since Dom had given him his task, namely to make a new drug that would enhance senses in a dream beyond anything that had come before it, Yusuf had been running around his lab like a mad scientist. He refused to divulge what Dom had told him any more than the barest sense of the assignment, saying that if he couldn't make the drug (which he could, thank you very much), then there was no point in even going forward with the job.

Ariadne and Eames had been having fun all week, trying to come up with what Dom's new maybe-job was that they needed a whole new variant on Yusuf's already top-notch sedatives. If Eames made one more 'sex that is literally mind-blowing' joke, Arthur was going to shoot him. He, no matter how much Ariadne, Eames and even Saito tried to make him, would not speculate about a job that hadn't even begun. It would cloud up his judgment, and that was dangerous for a Point Man. He had been working with Dom the longest and he had learned his lesson the hard way. Sure, maybe Eames had been doing dream-work longer than him but he, Dom and Mal had been a team long before others had come into the picture. He knew how these things went.

After their Inception job Arthur had been surprised that they'd all ended up staying around. They had worked with Eames and Yusuf before and never once had it been suggested that they all stay on together. He hadn't expected Saito to want to stay in the business, but he had proved to have a certain knack for it and the financial backing that had proved to make the job easier. The only person he'd been sure would work with them a while longer was Ariadne, who was quickly becoming one of the most brilliant Architects ever. She was too eager to learn and too good at what she did to for Dom to let her go or for her to want to stop.

Still, when Dom had gotten back into the routine with his children and the itch to go back into dreams had resurfaced, he'd called all of them to him and they had all come. There wasn't any specific moment that they all looked at each other and said _yeah, we're a team_, but the effect was the same. One year and fourteen jobs later and it was pretty cemented. For both safety and a certain sense of not wanting to work with anyone but the best while acknowledging that they _were_ the best, they'd united.

It was comfortable, it was safe… Arthur could even be pressed to admit that it was _nice_.

What he wouldn't admit to anyone but possibly Dom, was that he was interested in this new job. He wanted to know what made a new drug necessary and why it had to enhance feeling. His brain whirled with the possibilities, but he wouldn't really let it grasp on to any too tightly.

And so, when Yusuf declared himself in the human testing phase and asked for volunteers, Arthur raised his hand along with everyone else.

"Shouldn't I go," Ariadne asked, grinning, "Since I need to know if I have to change my building style to suit this?"

"We'll let you give it a try before the job, Ariadne, but Arthur's going first." Dom replied firmly.

Ariadne opened her mouth to protest, but Eames beat her to it, "Give it up, darling. Dom won't trust anyone's word on this but that of his little Point Man."

Saito and Yusuf laughed and Arthur glowered half-heartedly. Dom just nodded, "He's not my little Point Man," Dom started, just for Arthur's benefit, "But he's tested these things before, he'll know what I'm looking for."

"You haven't _told _anyone what you're looking for." Ariadne pointed out.

Arthur and Dom just looked at her. Eames laughed again.

Still, Dom was the unofficially official leader and his word stuck. In no time at all, Arthur was sitting and ready to go.

"Okay, Arthur," Yusuf said, injecting him with the drug, "This should make what you feel in the dream even more than what you feel out here. Not like _feelings_," He hastened to add, putting a sing-song girly voice on for it, "Like you'll suddenly feel like a teenage girl, but your senses. Smells will be stronger, you'll feel touch more intensely, stuff like that."

Arthur nodded and closed his eyes.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

_Arthur walked carefully down the street. He knew why he was there and he knew what he was supposed to be looking for, but what he'd expected wasn't even close to what he felt now. He'd never seen anything like this, not even in his (or Dom's, or Ariadne's…) most fantastical dreams. _

_Color had never been so bright, so intense, so unspeakable brilliant. Arthur walked down the street in a daze, taking it all in. His sight, crisper and clearer than it had never been, showed the gravely texture of the street, the brush strokes of the paint on the fire hydrant even the pores and lines of his own hand and was all that his sleeping brain could even process at that moment. _

_Slowly, other things trickled in. The smells were so intense. He wasn't just smelling a hot dog from the vendor, he was smelling the mustard and ketchup, the plastic from the bottles containing them, the way the water boiled, the salt, the grease, the yeast in the roll… everything. The smell wasn't enticing or beautiful the way the colors were, it made him nauseous. Sort of like when he'd been in high school and he'd had too much to drink – everything he'd eaten that night had become blacklisted, never to be eaten again because the smell alone could make him vomit in remembrance. _

_Yusuf couldn't have meant it to be like this, Dom either for that matter. No one would believe this was real, no one would trust this. It _had_ to be a mistake. _

_He staggered back from the hot dog vendor, almost retching. He thought that getting away from that smell would make it better, but it didn't. Now he just smelt exhaust from cars and sweat, perfume, cologne, detergent and a hundred other things from the people around him. He brought his own sleeve up to his nose to cover it, but it barely helped. His head started to ache as more tried to force him to notice it, too much input and too much more to come. _

_Every step he took was different. He could feel his skin rubbing against his shoes, feel his shoes hit the ground more forcefully than ever, even though he wasn't stepping more heavily than usual. He could feel the ground below him, pebbles that really didn't count as pebbles. Of course he could see them, grains that they were. He could see that each one of them was at least five different colors, different shades that he couldn't name, had maybe never seen before. He started walking strangely and without him even meaning to, his shoes turned to slippers. It didn't help, but the projections around him noticed. _

_Arthur ran down a side alley, determined to get away from all of those sensations. If he could be alone for a little while, he could pull himself back together. The smells got a little better, the further away he got from the cars and the people, but not by much. Never before in Arthur's life had he ever known air to smell so much. The noise, which he'd only just realized had been thunderous, lowered. Instead of other people, he heard himself. His breathing was like shouting, his heart was like a drum and the sound of his slippers against the pavement was loudest of them all. He saw a newspaper on the ground ahead of him and he could instantly read all of the words, the page in crystal clarity. He started to step over it, but what would normally be a half inch of thickness, nothing to worry about, suddenly felt like something a foot off the ground that he hadn't been prepared for. He tripped and skinned his hands on the ground. _

_It was agony. Arthur curled up on the ground, holding his hands to his chest and trying to breathe though the blinding pain. The smell of his own blood, even though the cuts were barely bleeding, made his stomach twist. Blood, if one got close to enough of it, usually smelled metallic, but this was so so much more…_

_Arthur's side ached from where it was pressed against the ground. It should have been a little cold and a little uncomfortable, but really it was like ice that was cutting into him in a million different points. Now that he was closer to it, he could see so much more of the concrete. Arthur shut his eyes tightly, head aching even worse. He had to get up, had to get off of the bed of nails he was laying on. He tried to press his injured hand against the ground to do it, but it was pain unlike anything else. _

_Arthur screamed and dropped back down to the ground, feeling the impact. In his pain-filled haze, he changed something again. He made the ground like a bed, even if it didn't change how it looked. It was soft, but he could still feel it keenly. _

_At the entrance to his alley, he could hear people murmuring. They were looking for him. _

_He opened his eyes again and the light was even brighter than it had been a moment before. He looked up at the sky and was sure that he could see planes flying above him, see the people inside them, but the light… the light was too much. The whites of the clouds – because God, yes, they were made up of multiple different shades of _white_ – were so bright, he could feel his eyes burning. Sunglasses, he needed sunglasses. _

_They appeared in his pocket and Arthur put them on. How much had he changed? The ground, the sunglasses, his shoes – too much. He was panicking in a dream for real. He'd been nervous in dreams, certainly, but one of his greatest strengths as a Point Man was his ability to always keep his calm. He didn't know how long he had been in his dream, but it felt like an eternity too long. Was the kick coming soon?_

_He needed to get out of the alley. The projections had noticed another thing changed and they were getting closer. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, ignoring the pain as best he could. He could smell them getting closer. _

_Arthur ran down the alley, trying to avoid anything that could make him trip again. The air moved against him and it felt like a hurricane. Arthur pushed on and turned the corner…_

_Right into a group of projections, standing, staring at him. _

_Arthur skidded to a halt just in time, but he couldn't go backwards. He was truly trapped. _

_The projection stepped forward, hostile, knife in his hand. Arthur looked between him and his barely injured but deeply painful hand scrapes. _

_This was going to hurt…_

**_-0-0-0-0-0-_**

Eames, Ariadne and Saito were playing cards a few feet away from Arthur. The game had only started a few minutes prior, but Arthur was already deeply asleep. Yusuf had checked him over quickly, but he and Dom had wandered off a moment before to discuss the drug further. Eames wasn't really into the logistics of such thing, preferring to hash all that out in the dream itself. He'd known, even as he was raising his hand, that he wasn't going to be chosen to go in the dream because of it. Not that anyone stood a chance against Arthur anyway. He tested things for Dom all the time and there was no one whose opinion carried more weight with Dom.

It was somewhere around the time that he completed his set of fours after Ariadne forgot who she'd already asked about them that he realized something was wrong. Arthur normally slept quiet as a mouse, no hint of a fidget or a sound.

Under other circumstances Eames might have thought he was imagining the whimper, but with a new drug being tested his was hyper-vigilant. He stood up and walked to Arthur.

"What is it?" Ariadne asked.

"Thought I heard him make a noise." Eames responded.

"Arthur? Under that much sedation?" Ariadne said, dropping her cards to the table all the same.

Eames ran a careful eye over Arthur and noticed something strange almost immediately. There was a shadow around his eye, as though he'd been punched. It hadn't been there before, right? His eyes travelled lower and he noticed that there was something red and wet on Arthur's stomach, so out of place that he actually reached out and ran his finger though it instead of immediately thinking blood. He peered at the smear on his finger and knew what it was. "Yusuf!"

* * *

**-0-0-0-0-0-

* * *

**

_I hope everyone is interested/liked the start of the story! Please, review!_


	2. Gone Wrong

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Reality Bleed**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_**Summary:**__ While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ These characters are not mine. They belong, or should completely belong, to Christopher Nolan. _

_**PLEASE NOTE:**__ I am, as near as I can tell, tweaking things a little. If projections don't mind if the dreamer (as opposed to the person in the dream with the dreamer) is changing the dream, then I apologize. Artistic license and all that. If you're someone who cannot bear to read a story unless it's perfectly in line with the rules of canon, then be warned that this might not be for you. Hopefully, however, everyone can suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this!_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys rock!

* * *

**_

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

**Chapter Two: **Gone Wrong

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

_-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

_

_Eames ran a careful eye over Arthur and noticed something strange almost immediately. There was a shadow around his eye, as though he'd been punched. It hadn't been there before, right? His eyes travelled lower and he noticed that there was something red and wet on Arthur's stomach, so out of place that he actually reached out and ran his finger though it instead of immediately thinking blood. He peered at the smear on his finger and knew what it was. "Yusuf!" _

The others rushed over while Eames pulled up Arthur's shirt. A great, bloody slash had appeared on Arthur's stomach, so awful it couldn't have been there before. "Fuck! What's going on, love?" He asked Arthur worriedly. "Yusuf, he's bleeding."

"He's bleeding? There's nothing in this that would cause an old injury to…" Yusuf said, stopping when he saw what Eames had seen. "That isn't old."

Dom immediately saw the problem. "Wake him. Do the kick!" He yelled, grabbing the IV line in Arthur's arm and pulling it out.

Eames grabbed the legs of Arthur's chair and shoved upwards, hoping to make Arthur feel like he was falling. All it did was make him moan in pain. He didn't wake up, "Not working!"

Yusuf swore and started mumbling under his breath, "Too strong, too strong… need a counter…"

"Get something!" Dom yelled.

"Look at his side," Ariadne said, her voice sounding almost as pained as Arthur's moan had been. They all looked to what she was talking about. Slowly and in front of their eyes, a deep gash was opening up down Arthur's ribs where Eames had opened his shirt. Blood started running down immediately. Ariadne grabbed one of their discarded jackets, Eames' maybe, and kneeled down next to Arthur to press it against whatever she could.

Dom swore again, "Arthur, _wake up_! You have to wake up!"

Not even a direct order from Dom was doing anything. Eames tried to initiate the kick again, abruptly shoving Arthur's chair back for the second time but keeping the legs in his hands so Arthur didn't actually fall. It didn't make any difference and blood started dripping down from Arthur's hairline out of an unseen wound.

Out of nowhere, Saito appeared with a towel to press against Arthur's head. His chair was completely surrounded, but none of them were doing much good. Arthur was still trapped deep in a dream that might kill him for real. Blood and bruises kept appearing in front of their eyes.

"Arthur!" Dom called again. Then, his eyes shot to where Yusuf was going through his apothecary of drugs, "Yusuf, hurry up!"

"I'm looking!" He called back, more than a little frantic, "I don't know what will interact, what will make it worse… there's too much risk!"

Eames looked worriedly at the wounds on Arthur's body, "Soon enough and we might not have a choice." He and Dom shared a grim look.

"Get some water, Yusuf." Dom called before turning back to Eames. "We'll do the kick again, shove the chair all the way and I'll catch him while Ariadne throws the water. Hopefully both will work."

"If it doesn't?" Saito asked quietly.

Dom didn't say anything. Arthur's head reared back as though he'd been struck. Blood leaked out of his parted lips.

It took only seconds for everyone to fall into place. They didn't have any time to waste, with Arthur getting pummeled and beaten inside and outside of his dream. Saito and Ariadne had to abandon their efforts to stem the bleeding and with each drop of blood that slipped out of Arthur's wounded body the situation seemed to grow more and more dire.

"Ready?" Eames asked, hands on Arthur's chair. Ariadne and Dom nodded, so he shoved the chair back for the third time, praying this time it would be enough to counteract whatever hellish prison Yusuf's drug had trapped Arthur in.

As Arthur fell, Ariadne threw the water over him, hoping to shock him awake. The water fell all over Arthur and, just before he hit the ground, Dom grabbed the back of the chair and slowed his descent.

Arthur jolted awake with a hoarse cry, confused, in pain and soaking wet. Dom was in his vision immediately. "You're awake, stay still. It's going to be alright."

"Dom…" Arthur gasped. He was going to explain, to try to tell them _something, _but Ariadne pressed the towel to his wounds again and whatever he had been going to say was lost to pain.

"You can't fall asleep, Arthur." Dom said, and it was clear he didn't just mean because of the head wound. They had never encountered a drug that could make the dreamer enter the same dream that they had just woken up from without the PASIV, but there was no telling what this new drug could do. They couldn't risk him falling back into it and them being unable to get him out again. You woke up when you died in a dream, but if those wounds were being imprinted onto your real body, then you might just die both in and out of the dream. It was too much of a risk. Dom looked at Eames and knew that he would understand better than Ariadne and Saito. "Keep him awake, I'm going to get help."

Eames nodded and knelt down on the floor next to Arthur. "We're going to get you to the couch, love. Let us do the work."

Saito got the unspoken request and knelt down on Arthur's other side to help. Before Eames and Saito could start moving Arthur, Dom leaned down to whisper into Arthur's ear, "You're going to be okay. I'll be back soon, I promise."

"Dom… 's too much…" Arthur moaned and Dom honestly wasn't sure if he was talking about the pain or the dream.

He didn't linger, even though it took physical effort to pull himself away from his team. Within seconds Dom was gone and Saito, Eames and Yusuf were carefully carrying Arthur to the couch.

Saito slid his hands out from underneath Arthur and saw instantly an all too familiar red stain on them. "His back," Saito said.

Eames rushed to the other side of the couch so he and Saito could turn Arthur over, "Damn," He said, seeing yet another bleeding cut. Luckily, if that word could even be applied by then, it didn't seem as bad as the others.

They let Arthur lay on his back, confident that the wound on his back wasn't an immediate concern. Once Arthur was laying flat again, Eames could see his eyes fluttering. "Arthur, darling, keep your eyes open. Cobb will be back with help soon."

Arthur's eyes lazily focused on Eames, so the Forger kept up a steady stream of encouragement as the others tried to tend to Arthur's wounds.

"I… I've never seen anything like it." Arthur said to Eames, sounding a little like he was in awe.

"Like what, love?" Eames asked, hoping that if he kept Arthur talking, he could keep him awake until Dom got back.

Arthur looked like he couldn't put into words what he wanted to say, "The colors…"

It didn't make much sense to Eames, but it did to Yusuf. "A drug to enhance your senses." He groaned, "I never thought it would go like this."

Eames didn't pay him any mind. "Things were more colorful?" He asked Arthur.

Arthur nodded and Eames wished he could have stopped him. It was pretty clear that it wasn't a gash that was bleeding on Arthur's head, it was the result of some sort of blunt force trauma. He was clearly at least a little concussed. That, coupled with the blood-loss, shock and possibly some of the drug still coursing through his system, completely explained how out of it the usually in control Point Man was. The simple movement of his head set off another wave of pain, and this one took Arthur with it.

"Arthur, Arthur you have to keep your eyes open!" Eames called, tapping Arthur on the cheek. It didn't do any good, he was already unconscious. Eames just hoped they could get him back a second time.

* * *

**-0-0-0-0-0-

* * *

**

_Reviews are love!_


	3. Stitch and Time

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Reality Bleed**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_**Summary:**__ While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ These characters are not mine. They belong, or should completely belong, to Christopher Nolan. _

_**PLEASE NOTE:**__ I am, as near as I can tell, tweaking things a little. If projections don't mind if the dreamer (as opposed to the person in the dream with the dreamer) is changing the dream, then I apologize. Artistic license and all that. If you're someone who cannot bear to read a story unless it's perfectly in line with the rules of canon, then be warned that this might not be for you. Hopefully, however, everyone can suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this!_

_***Updated Chapter Count!* – **__I've discovered a new problem of mine. I make the last chapter too far off from the one that comes before it. I'm sure none of you will particularly mind that I've added a chapter between the second and what was to be the last (third) chapter! This story is now four chapters long and this is that added chapter. It's a little shorter, but I think it adds a lot to the story. Enjoy!_

* * *

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

**Chapter Three: **Stitch and Time

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

* * *

One aspect of Arthur's job was to find any individuals in their area that they might need and have them lined up in case of emergencies. People that they could trust to do their jobs well and then walk away with a pocket full of cash and sealed lips. Sometimes it was a maid service that would let them into their clients houses for a look around, sometimes it was the local gangbanger who knew how to dispose of a body (though the last time _that_ had been a necessity was thankfully long ago) and sometimes it was a doctor who didn't mind not informing the authorities or local hospital that he'd been doing a little freelancing.

When they settled into their new base of operations, a steady one so that Cobb could be near his children, Arthur had gone around and done his usual bit of research. He had found a doctor, the elderly man Dr. Richards, and had quietly discussed terms. Normally he wouldn't approach the subject unless the services were actually needed, but they'd learned the hard way that people were fickle and it was best to have a lock on someone who could save your life. This particular doctor was good at what he did, efficient, discreet and willing. They hadn't used him yet, but the second Dom had introduced himself, blood smeared on his jacket sleeve, the man had immediately known who Dom was and what he needed.

He didn't ask many questions, for which Dom was grateful.

All in all, the trip took less than an hour. It felt like being in a dream to Dom, each minute longer than it should have been.

By the time he and Dr. Richards entered the warehouse, it looked like a battle had been waged. The chair was still down, splatters of blood around it, the PASIV machine left wide open for anyone to see, Yusuf's laboratory in disorganized shambles and all of his team members clustered around the couch that held Arthur. When Dom saw he was unconscious, he almost swore.

"I take it this is my patient?" Dr. Richards asked, voice gravelly with age and calm with experience. It shifted the whole mood. Suddenly he was in charge and it was either his age and professional but kindly demeanor or their utter desperation that made the change completely welcome.

Eames and Dom worked as orderlies, shifting Arthur as gently as they could in time with the doctor's requests, Saito retrieved any supplies that the man asked for - including a hefty shopping list that should have been pricey and impossible to get for anyone else, Ariadne played nurse and Yusuf, the only one with any sort of medical knowledge, helped in any way the older man asked. They worked as one unit, just like they did on the job, but this time Arthur was the client.

Dom tried not to take it to heart when Arthur groaned with pain every time they moved him. He could see on Eames' face that the other man was fighting the same sort of battle. When Eames pulled Arthur forward so that he could lean against the Forger's chest to let the doctor at his back, Dom had noticed Eames whispering things in his ear. Most of it was hard to make out, but there were quite a few repetitions of _"Easy, love, it's all right."_ and _"Shh, Arthur." _mixed in with Eames' usual brand of sweet talk.

Dom's eyes took in everything happening all at once. Eames' gentle words and Ariadne's hand in Arthur's, the way she smoothed back his mussed up hair didn't escape his notice. He saw how Saito anxiously watched, rushing around to grab any requested item as though he wasn't a multi-millionaire too above them to fetch things and he definitely saw how Yusuf kept shaking his hand out, trying to keep it from shaking and causing more pain. Something in Dom relaxed when he saw all of it – it felt like he was working within a family for the first time since he'd lost Mal.

Thoughts of Mal weren't going to help, they'd just make it worse, even if the gaping wound that her death had left him with was finally scabbing over. He stared down at Arthur, trying to will him to wake up and be alright. Arthur was his oldest friend and was, at this point, the only constant that Dom had left. He'd taught Arthur everything he knew about dream sharing, but Arthur had long since repaid him for it. Dom couldn't stand the thought that this was somehow down to him. Objectively, he tried to tell himself that this was a risk of testing new sedatives that Arthur very much accepted, but his heart told him he should have tested it himself.

They were down to the last set of stitches when Ariadne apparently couldn't hold herself back anymore. "Is it bad that he's not awake? I mean…" She looked scared and Dom knew he should have been trying to comfort her, but it was all he could do to keep himself going.

Dr. Richards paused for a second, "Not necessarily. I dare even say not really." He smiled gently at Ariadne, "This is a pretty nasty head wound, he's lost a lot of blood and he is in quite a lot of pain. When you bring those factors together, unconsciousness isn't only likely, it's a mercy."

"For us or him?" Eames asked under his breath. Dom didn't respond, but his answer would have been something along the lines of _Both_.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

With Arthur's wounds cleaned and stitched, there was little else to do but wait. The doctor left them with instructions and the promise he'd return later. He'd tried to tell them that Arthur was doing well, that it had turned out to look worse than it really was, but it went in one ear and out the other.

The others hadn't batted an eye when Dom insisted he take first watch, there hadn't ever been a question. It was only long practice of bedside vigils that kept him from essentially freaking out when a fever developed. It was only the doctor's words to Ariadne and then repeated each time they asked, that kept him from worrying too intensely over Arthur's continued unconsciousness.

The fact was that he'd lost Mal already, he couldn't be expected to lose his best friend too. Dom leaned down to Arthur's ear, "You're going to be alright, Arthur. " He whispered.

"_You have to be alright."_

* * *

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

* * *

_Stay tuned for more! All of your reviews have been beyond appreciated (and re-read and gushed over...), so please keep them coming!_


	4. What Is And Is Not Worth it

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Reality Bleed**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_**Summary:**__ While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ These characters are not mine. They belong, or should completely belong, to Christopher Nolan. _

_I apologize for the late update. I think we all noticed how the site shorted out, though, so I imagine you guys weren't too concerned/surprised when I didn't post as scheduled. _

_**We are now COMPLETE! Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorite the story! Deeply appreciated!**_

* * *

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

**Chapter Four: **What Is and Is Not Worth It

_-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-_

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

* * *

When Arthur woke up, it was a slow process. He felt like he was moving through some sort of thick sludge and that he'd never break to the surface. His head throbbed in time with his heartbeat and for an awful second, Arthur had been sure that hearing his heart beating like that meant he was back in the dream. It took a few seconds to realize that he was waking up because someone was patting him on the cheek. It felt gentle, _normal_ and then Arthur's fuzzy brain realized he wasn't in the dream after all. If he had been, that little pat would have felt like a sledgehammer, probably.

"Arthur?"

"Hmm?" Arthur mumbled, not really willing to give much more than that.

He heard some muffled conversation around him and his tired, overtaxed brain didn't really want to put in the effort to follow it. After some span of time, words seemed to be directed at him again and he tried to focus.

"Arthur, can you open your eyes for us?"

That would be the real test, wouldn't it? There was no way to duplicate his sight in the dream. What if his senses were making themselves known in waves again, as soon as his brain could even process all of the input? No, not happening.

"Come on, Arthur, we need to talk for just a second."

"_Arthur_?"

He knew who the second person was in an instant - Cobb, calling him to wake up, to be ready to go. With a groan, Arthur opened his eyes and saw so blessedly little he almost cried.

"Hello, Arthur." An elderly looking doctor called from above him. Arthur vaguely recognized him, but not enough to remember from where. That was usually part of his job, to know everything he could about their contacts, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less. "I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me?" He didn't wait for an answer before trudging along as though he knew just how tired Arthur was. "What's your name?"

"Arthur," He responded, he saw Dom's nod and then grudgingly finished, "Bowen."

The doctor kept on with a few other questions and Arthur knew this was because that projection smashed him over the head with a stone from the ground. His memories of waking up were hazy, but he _had them_ and even if the sensations weren't different he would have realized he wasn't in a dream. He remembered only snippets from waking up, but enough to slowly realize that, inexplicably, he was injured in the real world the same as he had been outside. Also, he had an awful memory of telling Eames about colors, but he was going to play that off like it never happened. Eames would likely take his lead. They might not get along much anymore, but Arthur knew Eames wouldn't make fun of anything that had happened in or out of this particular dream.

Arthur realized he'd been drifting, because it seemed that all of a sudden the doctor, looking vaguely satisfied, had stepped to the side with Dom, and Yusuf was the one sitting next to him.

"Arthur, I am so sorry." Yusuf said, actually wringing his hands.

Squinting at him, a little confused, Arthur couldn't bring himself to be much more eloquent than, "Huh?"

That seemed to upset Yusuf even more. "The drug, it was too strong. I wanted it to be complete much too quickly. We should have worked out way up to that strength, more trials. I simply wasn't thinking."

"S'okay, Yusuf." Arthur forgave easily. Yes, they were the best, but that didn't completely exclude mistakes made out of rushed excitement.

"When you're better," Yusuf said, gesturing vaguely at Arthur's body. Arthur glanced down at himself and saw bandages and bruises… _a lot_ of bandages and bruises. "We'll talk about the dream and I'll tweak things. I'll test it myself."

Arthur was going to protest that, he didn't mind testing new techniques or drugs, and he certainly didn't want his role to change just because he'd been pummeled so hard in a dream that he'd been hurt outside of it, but his eyes were growing heavier and his head wasn't really willing to fight it. He fell asleep again.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

Later, though all he had wanted to do was sleep more, he woke up and had desperately needed the bathroom and a drink of water, in that exact order. Dom had been there, luckily, and this wasn't the first time something like that had been necessary. Arthur didn't even bother feeling embarrassed about Dom nearly carrying him to the bathroom.

With that trip of pain over, Dom lowered him back down to the couch. "All right now, Arthur?"

That question held a lot, and only the years working together let Arthur know it. "Yeah… It's not so bad."

"In your, ah, _scale of injuries_? Or compared to the dream?" Dom asked, getting right into the heart of the matter just way that Arthur had always appreciated.

"A little bit of both." Arthur answered, letting his head fall back against the arm of the couch.

Dom scoffed, "I think we both know this is almost as bad off as you've ever been."

Smiling lazily, Arthur shrugged (and pretty much regretted it). "Nah, remember that time in Sri Lanka? With Eames?"

Dom's answering laugh let Arthur know that he did remember. It had been years before, when Eames worked with them much more because he and Arthur had not yet fallen out. His mind ran through the details again as it had a thousand times before. The job had been a spectacular mess. It had ended with all three of them sporting gunshot wounds, Arthur worst of all.

"Okay, second worst time ever." Dom conceded. He stopped talking and waited for Arthur to look at him. When he did, Arthur could see how genuinely frightened Dom had been. All anyone else would have seen was an intense stare, but Arthur knew better. Things had finally recovered between them, the Inception job the lowest point in their communication but possibly the highest point in their loyalty to each other, and they were finally able to hold nothing back, as two partners in this particular line of work were supposed to function. "Tell me about the dream?"

"Yusuf was right," Arthur said, eyes trying to see the detail of the dream but completely unable. He remembered how he felt about it, but he couldn't muster up the intensity of any of the sensation, his body simply unable. "It was like feeling things more than I ever could. Colors, smells, textures… _everything _Dom. I don't know what you needed it for, but there's no way it could work. It couldn't mimic real life in any way possible. I changed things because I couldn't handle all of it and…" Arthur paused and sighed, "I panicked."

Dom took a moment to take that in. Arthur closed his eyes tiredly, feeling his body's aches all the worse. In the bathroom, he'd taken a quick second to look at his wounds under some of the bandages. They were bad, but not as bad as they'd been in the dream. Still, he had enough stitches, bruises and scrapes to keep him out of the game for a while.

"Get some more rest." Dom said at last. Arthur stared at him for a few seconds, "I'm going to talk to Yusuf about this, but I'll be back later, okay?"

Arthur sleepily nodded, not willing to fight with Dom about the job, and again fell asleep.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

When he woke up next it was because the pain was raging. He didn't see how he'd been able to walk before, even with Dom's help.

"Shit," Arthur moaned, trying hard not to move even though he kind of wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

"Such language, darling."

Eames was back, definitely. Arthur opened his eyes and found himself less than a foot from Eames' smiling, mildly concerned face. The Eames he had known wouldn't have bothered hiding that he was concerned, but a lot had gone down since then. Between their fight and then, even worse, all of the drama leading up to and exploding after Mal's death, Arthur should probably consider it pretty interesting that either he was being shown or seeing through to Eames' concern at all. As it was, he couldn't care less.

That probably showed on his face, because suddenly Ariadne was there, with a pill bottle… a beautiful, glorious prescription that was for pain, if there was a God.

"You're not supposed to get another dose for another fifteen minutes, but I think you can't wait." She said, glancing at Eames.

"Give it to him, love." Eames drawled, lifting a glass of water from the floor.

Ariadne brought two pills to Arthur's mouth. "You can take the antibiotics later." She explained as he swallowed the pills dry. Eames cocked an eyebrow and held the glass of water teasingly. Ariadne made an impatient noise and moved to take it, but Eames was quicker.

He held the water to Arthur's lips and didn't let go when his shaking hand tried to take it. "Have a sip, Arthur." He said with a grin.

"If I didn't know better," Arthur groused a little breathlessly, angry for pretty much no reason other than Eames was near, "I'd say you were enjoying this."

"Then I do hope you know better." Eames said shortly, standing up and walking away with the water.

Arthur watched him go without comment, but Ariadne didn't. "I don't know why you guys snipe at each other so much, you obviously don't hate each other." She said, giving him a look that said she thought they were idiots. "Is one of you going to have to get hurt even worse before you decide that you're friends?"

That was nothing Arthur was going to answer to, even if the pill weren't making him tired and loopy again. Really, it was getting old.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

"You're scrapping the job then, yeah?" Eames asked, a few yards away from where Ariadne was keeping an eye on Arthur.

Arthur had been drifting in and out of consciousness all day. Currently, he was awake and chatting quietly with Ariadne and Saito, the two people in the room that didn't feel awful for one reason or another. Arthur had been giving Dom and Yusuf strange looks every time he was awake, like he was going to give them a stern talking to if they didn't knock it off. Guilt, however, was kind of hard to just flip on and off like a switch. It probably helped that Arthur didn't blame either one of them for the intensity of the sedative, which was completely like Arthur.

It definitely helped that the doctor had quietly informed them that Arthur was going to be fine, if he took it easy until the stitches were out. Flesh wounds, he said. Almost fatal, Dom's conscience whispered. It would be easier and easier to believe what the doctor had said, the stronger that Arthur got.

Dom's eyes darted over to the object of all of their thoughts. "I wasn't ever completely sure of it and Arthur said it wouldn't work. Unless Yusuf can lower the dosage, but even then I don't think we'll go forward."

"Probably for the best." Eames agreed, pleased. Risk was all well and good, but this was nothing to play around with.

"Arthur said every sense was so intense in the dream that he panicked and started changing things to cope." Dom admitted to Eames.

Eames was shocked and didn't bother to hide it. "And they turned on him? Jesus, I can't imagine Arthur panicking that much."

"Which is exactly why I know the job won't work." Dom explained. "I take Arthur's word."

"We know that, Dom." Eames said, with a look.

They were both quiet for a second. Eames' eyes took in the wreck that their warehouse was in. Medical supplies strewn everywhere, intermixed with the occasional blood-soaked towel that they hadn't gotten around to disposing of yet and Yusuf's notes for the drug. "Going to tell us what all of this turned out to be for nothing for?"

Dom looked Eames in the eye. "Trust me, it wasn't worth it."

* * *

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

* * *

_This chapter was kind a hodge-podge wrap up, but I hope there was enough team!fluff to keep everyone interested. I had only ever intended it to be a slice of team life post-movie, so the problems within them aren't going to be resolved, just peaked at. _

_I hope you all enjoyed the story! I have to admit that I don't really have any other ideas for an Inception story, so if anyone has any inspiration advice, please do send it along. _

**_As this is the last chapter, I do hope everyone (lurkers too!) will drop me a line and send in their thoughts! _**


End file.
